Photo By Ericka Gillespie | (Left to Right) Tracy Bradford, Army Women's Museum, museum curator; Stanley Earley...... read more read more
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FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – The opening of the Army Women’s Museum’s exhibit “Courage to Deliver” was celebrated Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Fort Gregg-Adams leadership, local community members, Soldiers and family and friends of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion gathered in celebration of the newly constructed exhibit. It honors the legacy of the World War II unit commanded by Lt. Col. Charity Adams.
The installation’s name honors Adams and retired Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg. Gregg is the Army’s first Black three-star general and namesake of an Army logistics award. Adams — as she was known before leaving military service and taking the married name Earley — led the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion beyond mission accomplishment in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
The battalion was the first and only primarily African American female unit to be deployed overseas during WWII. The unit also included Latin American, Hispanic, Caribbean and Asian Pacific Islander women. The unit was active from 1945 to 1946 and consisted of 855 women, of which 824 were enlisted and 31 were officers, under the command of Major Charity Adams. Their nickname was the “Six-Triple Eight” and their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale.”
“By serving with such dignity and pride, these women challenged gender and racial stereotypes thus opening the door for future generations to wear this uniform and serve our country,” said Maj. Gen. Michelle K. Donahue, U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Gregg-Adams commanding general.
The unit served at home and in Europe where they sorted and routed mail for millions of American service members and civilians. By dividing their work into shifts, the women processed an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per day.
“There’s 60 seconds in a minute and there’s 60 minutes in an hour, and these women worked eight-hour shifts which would give you a total of 28,800 seconds,” explained Stanley Earley III, the son of the late Charity Adams-Earley and Stanley Earley Jr. “These women were sorting 65,000 pieces of mail every shift, which means they were processing a piece of mail every .44 seconds.”
Adams was a member of the first female officer training class in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later known as the Women’s Army Corps) in Iowa and was the first African American female commissioned officer. She also was the highest ranking African American female officer by the end of the World War II and became a Lieutenant Colonel.
Together, the decedents and families of the 6888th partnered with the Friends of the Army Women’s Museum Association and the United States Army Center of Military History during the entire curation process for the new exhibit.
“The Army Center of Military History has this simple three-word motto – Educate, Inspire, Preserve,” said Charles Bowery Jr., executive director of the U.S. Army Center of Military History. “Through this exhibit and our other programs, the Fort Gregg-Adams museums continue to live this motto every day.”
Tracy Bradford was presented a Civilian Service Commendation Medal by Bowery Jr. for her exceptional civilian service while serving as the museum curator during the process of constructing the Courage to Deliver exhibit.
“Thanks to everyone involved with this project, we now have an unprecedented collection of 6888th artifacts and archives representing this unique Army women’s story,” Bradford said. “The support and enthusiasm surrounding this exhibit has been inspirational.”
Following the cutting of the ribbon, guests trailed inside the museum to explore the new exhibit featuring the late Maj. Mary Frances Kearney’s footlocker with her serial number and initials hand painted on the top, the late Pvt. Indian Hunt-Martin’s musette bag, the late Pfc. Annie Knight Jordan’s hot comb, among many other pieces.
Through their “Courage to Deliver” exhibit, the AWM hopes to shed light on what female Soldiers went through during WWII.
“The point of understanding and studying history is to learn where we’ve been so we understand how we got where we are and where we still need to go,” said U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, representing the 4th District of Virginia.
To learn more about the Army Women’s Museum and their exhibits, click here: https://awm.army.mil/index.html
To learn more about the 688thh Central Postal Directory Battalion click here: https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/
To learn more about the Army Women’s Foundation, click here: https://www.awfdn.org/
| Date Taken: | 04.26.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.03.2024 17:01 |
| Story ID: | 470294 |
| Location: | FORT GREGG-ADAMS, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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